Did Putin Pick Pence?

With the chatter about possible impeachment and indictment of Donald Trump getting louder by the day, the focus begins to shift to Vice President Mike Pence, who has largely remained silent and in the background throughout the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Rewind to the summer of 2016 when Paul Manafort was the new knight in shining armor, effectively booting the hapless and perenially angry Corey Lewandowski from his post as campaign manager. Trump offered the number two spot on the ticket to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who had become an A+ Trump sycophant.

Manafort was so opposed to this move, he "tricked" Trump in order to undo this move. While campaigning in Indiana where Mike Pence was governor, Manafort lied to Trump, telling him there was a mechanical problem with Trump's airplane, and they would have to spend the night in Indiana while it was under repair. He then ushered in Mike Pence where the two men worked on Trump for several hours, convincing him to place Pence on the ticket and kick Chris Christie to the curb.

Trump agreed. Pence was in. Christie was out, thrown under the bus without a second thought.

With 8 guilty verdicts this week, and more likely to come, Paul Manafort appears to be securing his place in the history books as one of this nation's biggest traitors, solidly in the pocket of Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Since Manafort went to such extreme measures to get his candidate to rescind his invitation for Governor Christie to serve as his vice presidential running mate, and was so keen to push Pence into the slot, it's not a stretch to assume Pence was who Putin wanted as Trump's vice president. Why Putin chose Pence remains to be seen, and may present a greater threat than Trump does to our nation. Was Putin confident Trump could win with his help where Pence could not, but that Trump would not last and this was his chess move to install Pence in the Oval Office?